Hands Played Today - 4123
Hands Played July - 175595
Comments:
Nothing working again today. Couldn't be bothered to grind through it. This month has it in for me. Luckily just one day left.
Hands Played Today - 6611
Hands Played July - 157328
Comments:
I had a downswing that lasted 100k hands once. That was a couple of years ago. Normally I get a 20k or 30k DS or a couple 10k's each month and its a bit annoying but I grind through it. I currently can't even remember the last time that I logged on to Pokerstars to put in a session and had anything resembling a chance to win. It is only due to the sheer retardation that is NL5 that I have been able to win any money at all.
For 75k hands now I have been losing every big pot that I play. People say just grind through it, but how do you grind through it when there is no end? I have been putting in massive volume the last week and a half and I just sit here and stare at the screen, with a sense of numbness and disbelief, as yet another pot gets shipped to an opponent on a miracle river or cooler.
Overall I am fine and haven't tilted too much although I have zero confidence and have missed several value bets because I fear the worst every time. I know that I am seeing the worst that variance has to offer. Perhaps the worst I have ever seen over 4 or 5 million hands. And I guess I should be grateful that I am only losing 25 dollar pots at most and am not even losing money overall. I think all I can do is compartmentalize each day and move on.
Today was something like the 12th day in a row of complete wtf. Perhaps tomorrow will be different.
Hands Played July - 157328
Comments:
I had a downswing that lasted 100k hands once. That was a couple of years ago. Normally I get a 20k or 30k DS or a couple 10k's each month and its a bit annoying but I grind through it. I currently can't even remember the last time that I logged on to Pokerstars to put in a session and had anything resembling a chance to win. It is only due to the sheer retardation that is NL5 that I have been able to win any money at all.
For 75k hands now I have been losing every big pot that I play. People say just grind through it, but how do you grind through it when there is no end? I have been putting in massive volume the last week and a half and I just sit here and stare at the screen, with a sense of numbness and disbelief, as yet another pot gets shipped to an opponent on a miracle river or cooler.
Overall I am fine and haven't tilted too much although I have zero confidence and have missed several value bets because I fear the worst every time. I know that I am seeing the worst that variance has to offer. Perhaps the worst I have ever seen over 4 or 5 million hands. And I guess I should be grateful that I am only losing 25 dollar pots at most and am not even losing money overall. I think all I can do is compartmentalize each day and move on.
Today was something like the 12th day in a row of complete wtf. Perhaps tomorrow will be different.
Hands Played Today - 10343
Hands Played July - 132544
Comments:
My momma once told me that if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all. Yes I am in a brutal downswing. I just erased a huge rant post for the second day in a row. I don't want this to be a whine blog like so many other miserable poker players. I lost a bunch of poker hands. So what?
Hands Played July - 132544
Comments:
My momma once told me that if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all. Yes I am in a brutal downswing. I just erased a huge rant post for the second day in a row. I don't want this to be a whine blog like so many other miserable poker players. I lost a bunch of poker hands. So what?
Hands Played Today - 7065
Hands Played July - 95096
Comments:
Been running pretty bad the past two days. Not quite as bad as during my recent NL25 foray but annoying enough. I actually tilted off a buyin today which I haven't done at NL5 in as long as I can remember. I was playing some Korean nit heads up after a table break. Out of nowhere, he starts 3betting me every hand...an 8/6 nit. I 4bet him light once or twice and he generally gave up.
The preflop wars continued and eventually we got 250bb stacks in the middle on the flop with my middle pair against his top pair. Really bad in a vaccuum. Still pretty bad even given the dynamic between us. I shouldn't be playing nits heads up in the first place though. I don't need to prove anything. I am just there to get the fishes money.
Hands Played July - 95096
Comments:
Been running pretty bad the past two days. Not quite as bad as during my recent NL25 foray but annoying enough. I actually tilted off a buyin today which I haven't done at NL5 in as long as I can remember. I was playing some Korean nit heads up after a table break. Out of nowhere, he starts 3betting me every hand...an 8/6 nit. I 4bet him light once or twice and he generally gave up.
The preflop wars continued and eventually we got 250bb stacks in the middle on the flop with my middle pair against his top pair. Really bad in a vaccuum. Still pretty bad even given the dynamic between us. I shouldn't be playing nits heads up in the first place though. I don't need to prove anything. I am just there to get the fishes money.
Hands Played Today - 9051
Hands Played July - 80994
Comments:
Games were amazing today as expected. It is so nice to have at least one massive donkey on every table waiting to give you his money when you get a set, AA, KK etc.
Played a pretty interesting hand near the end of the day. Villain is LAG, 26/19/3 over 300 hands. And as mentioned yesterday nobody folds to 3bets at NL5 lol. Anyways, he spaz raises the flop.
I don't normally look to get 250bb in with one pair with no history, but he is raising cbets 30% of the time and is basically nuts. He had a pretty good hand though. I only had 53% equity when the money went in.
Poker Stars, $0.02/$0.05 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 7 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter
UTG: $7.17
UTG+1: $1.48
MP: $17.26
CO: $1.82
BTN: $1.06
Hero (SB): $12.50
BB: $3.08
Pre-Flop: A
K
dealt to Hero (SB)
2 folds, MP raises to $0.20, CO calls $0.20, BTN folds, Hero raises to $0.80, BB folds, MP calls $0.60, CO folds
Flop: ($1.85) 2
K J (2 Players)
Hero bets $1.25, MP raises to $5, Hero raises to $11.70 and is All-In, MP calls $6.70
Turn: ($25.25) 3 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
River: ($25.25) 9 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
Results: $25.25 Pot ($1.25 Rake)
MP showed T 9 and WON $24 (+$11.50 NET)
Hero showed A K and LOST (-$12.48 NET)
Hands Played July - 80994
Comments:
Games were amazing today as expected. It is so nice to have at least one massive donkey on every table waiting to give you his money when you get a set, AA, KK etc.
Played a pretty interesting hand near the end of the day. Villain is LAG, 26/19/3 over 300 hands. And as mentioned yesterday nobody folds to 3bets at NL5 lol. Anyways, he spaz raises the flop.
I don't normally look to get 250bb in with one pair with no history, but he is raising cbets 30% of the time and is basically nuts. He had a pretty good hand though. I only had 53% equity when the money went in.
Poker Stars, $0.02/$0.05 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 7 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter
UTG: $7.17
UTG+1: $1.48
MP: $17.26
CO: $1.82
BTN: $1.06
Hero (SB): $12.50
BB: $3.08
Pre-Flop: A
K dealt to Hero (SB)2 folds, MP raises to $0.20, CO calls $0.20, BTN folds, Hero raises to $0.80, BB folds, MP calls $0.60, CO folds
Flop: ($1.85) 2
K J (2 Players)Hero bets $1.25, MP raises to $5, Hero raises to $11.70 and is All-In, MP calls $6.70
Turn: ($25.25) 3
(2 Players - 1 is All-In)River: ($25.25) 9
(2 Players - 1 is All-In)Results: $25.25 Pot ($1.25 Rake)
MP showed T
9 and WON $24 (+$11.50 NET)Hero showed A
K and LOST (-$12.48 NET)
Hands Played Today - 7044
Hands Played July - 71943
Comments:
Pretty good week overall. Games were good today and should be great over the weekend. I plan to play a ton. I have been doing a lot of study lately which isn't something that I have done much of in quite some time. HEM has some fantastic filters that I was up way too late messing with last night lol. I am actually not much of a stats geek but my game has undoubtedly grown stagnant from excessive NL2 and NL5 play.
Playing NL25 a few weeks ago was a bit of a wakeup call because there were a couple regs doing some things that I haven't really seen before. I have been studying their games and trying out some of the new tricks on the NL5 regs. Well I have been straight up abusing them (see hand below). I was only robbing them before lol. I should be ready for another go at NL25 soon. Looking forward to that.
Villain was 15/10/2 with the typical NL5 reg 0% fold to 3bet and 50% fold to cbet. Ok, I will just keep firing then lol. FWIW, my bet sizing kinda sucks in this hand. Flop should have been a bit more and turn a bit less.
Poker Stars, $0.02/$0.05 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter
MP1: $5.81
MP2: $5
CO: $8.88
BTN: $6
Hero (SB): $17.57
BB: $12.63
UTG: $5.73
UTG+1: $12.94
Pre-Flop: A Q dealt to Hero (SB)
3 folds, MP2 calls $0.05, CO raises to $0.20, BTN folds, Hero raises to $0.70, 2 folds, CO calls $0.50
Flop: ($1.50) 5 9 6
(2 Players)
Hero bets $0.80, CO calls $0.80
Turn: ($3.10) K (2 Players)
Hero bets $2.20, CO folds
Results: $3.10 Pot ($0.15 Rake)
Hero showed A Q and WON $2.95 (+$1.47 NET)
Hands Played July - 71943
Comments:
Pretty good week overall. Games were good today and should be great over the weekend. I plan to play a ton. I have been doing a lot of study lately which isn't something that I have done much of in quite some time. HEM has some fantastic filters that I was up way too late messing with last night lol. I am actually not much of a stats geek but my game has undoubtedly grown stagnant from excessive NL2 and NL5 play.
Playing NL25 a few weeks ago was a bit of a wakeup call because there were a couple regs doing some things that I haven't really seen before. I have been studying their games and trying out some of the new tricks on the NL5 regs. Well I have been straight up abusing them (see hand below). I was only robbing them before lol. I should be ready for another go at NL25 soon. Looking forward to that.
Villain was 15/10/2 with the typical NL5 reg 0% fold to 3bet and 50% fold to cbet. Ok, I will just keep firing then lol. FWIW, my bet sizing kinda sucks in this hand. Flop should have been a bit more and turn a bit less.
Poker Stars, $0.02/$0.05 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter
MP1: $5.81
MP2: $5
CO: $8.88
BTN: $6
Hero (SB): $17.57
BB: $12.63
UTG: $5.73
UTG+1: $12.94
Pre-Flop: A
Q dealt to Hero (SB)3 folds, MP2 calls $0.05, CO raises to $0.20, BTN folds, Hero raises to $0.70, 2 folds, CO calls $0.50
Flop: ($1.50) 5
9 6 (2 Players)Hero bets $0.80, CO calls $0.80
Turn: ($3.10) K
(2 Players)Hero bets $2.20, CO folds
Results: $3.10 Pot ($0.15 Rake)
Hero showed A
Q and WON $2.95 (+$1.47 NET)
Hands Played Today - 7030
Hands Played July - 7030
Comments:
I returned to NL5 today. I didn't run particularly well once again but at least I played a lot better and booked a small win. I ran pretty good in SnG's though. I tried the 280FPP hyper turbo's today for the first time. I avoided them for the longest time because I thought they were stupid crapshoots.
I was wrong. Not only are they over in 5 minutes but the play is so bad in them, that I think my longterm winrate might even be better than in the 210's which I have played for the longest time. 210's also take 45 minutes to finish.
I played 32 280's today and got 11 dollars in T$ 15 times, got my 280FPP back 6 times, and failed to cash 11 times. Thats .023 on my FPP's. For comparison, Stars best bonus, the Supernova 4k works out to .016 per FPP. Keep in mind that I ran a bit hot and 32 SnG's isn't a legit sample. But the FPP value is nice nonetheless.
Stars "micromania" in July is also making me feel a bit better about things. I gained a lot more VPP than normal today. I worked out my NL5 "rakeback" today to 42% of what I get at NL25. Definitely a lot better than normal.
Hands Played July - 7030
Comments:
I returned to NL5 today. I didn't run particularly well once again but at least I played a lot better and booked a small win. I ran pretty good in SnG's though. I tried the 280FPP hyper turbo's today for the first time. I avoided them for the longest time because I thought they were stupid crapshoots.
I was wrong. Not only are they over in 5 minutes but the play is so bad in them, that I think my longterm winrate might even be better than in the 210's which I have played for the longest time. 210's also take 45 minutes to finish.
I played 32 280's today and got 11 dollars in T$ 15 times, got my 280FPP back 6 times, and failed to cash 11 times. Thats .023 on my FPP's. For comparison, Stars best bonus, the Supernova 4k works out to .016 per FPP. Keep in mind that I ran a bit hot and 32 SnG's isn't a legit sample. But the FPP value is nice nonetheless.
Stars "micromania" in July is also making me feel a bit better about things. I gained a lot more VPP than normal today. I worked out my NL5 "rakeback" today to 42% of what I get at NL25. Definitely a lot better than normal.
Epic Post, Thanks, and July Goals
I am not someone who seeks the limelight and I continue to write this blog with myself mostly in mind. But I do thank all my regular readers. I read every comment and try my best to reply to each one.
Recently I had a bad run. I played bad too. I'm nowhere near perfect. I've been around the block a few (too many?) times in this game. It has been a year and a half almost since I last regularly played NL25 on Stars. You won't find this data on PTR as they only began tracking micro play in October of 2009.
With all the new readers I should briefly explain some of my poker history so that people know where I am coming from a bit more. I started with play money on PartyPoker in 2004. I switched to Stars and began real money play in 2005. I never deposited. I got a bankroll by selling play chips. I have never made a single deposit to any online card room to this day.
I had zero discipline for the longest time and 50k hands in a month was a major accomplishment. I played as high as NL1000, but much more regularly at NL25-NL200.
The games back then were a complete joke. I have reviewed some of my data in Holdem Manager from NL100 in 2005 on Stars and average table VPIP was the same as NL2 today. It was like printing money. I was an absolutely terrible nit but anyone with a heartbeat and a double digit IQ could destroy those games.
In 2005 a 3bet at NL100 meant AA or KK only. Limped pots were the norm, not the exception. Cbetting was only done when someone had top pair at least. Sets, overpairs, made hands were almost always "slowplayed" until the river. And things like stealing blinds or floating with the intention of taking away a pot were unheard of concepts.
I have seen the evolution of poker since then. It is truly remarkable. Unfortunately it is only in the past year or so that I have learned how to approach this game as a professional. That is why I started this blog. I post my hand totals each day to hold myself accountable. Unfortunately though, I do not have a time machine handy. The games are as tough as they have ever been and I am constantly amazed at the progression. Note that this doesn't apply to NL2 and only applies somewhat to NL5.
This is not to say that there isn't still a lot of money to be made in poker. Rakeback programs have gotten much better over the years. Also the ability to multi table (Stars only allowed 5 tables when I started) and the associated software have improved greatly.
However, winrates have plummeted and that means variance goes way up. I just experienced a 12 buyin downswing at NL25. There was a fair bit of spew/tilt in there as well, I can't lie lol. However two years ago a 12 buyin downer at NL25 was simply not possible for me. I still didn't think it was possible today. C'mon, its freaking NL25 right? It is very humbling to say the least.
I do not consider myself to be some kind of great player. Frankly I wouldn't even want to be known as one if I was. Leatherass is my idol in poker. I espouse his ideals of ruthless work ethic and game selection. A sucker's money spends the same way as a reg's and it comes way easier and takes way less skill or brainpower to get it.
With that said, I have poured my soul into this game for years, and I know that I can be at least a small winner in any small stakes full ring game, even in today's climate. And if the above statement isn't true then I am someone who is willing to put in the effort to get there. I am not willing to give up on this game just yet.
I plan on spending the first week or two of July furiously grinding the NL5 and perhaps NL10 tables. I also have a mountain of FPP to convert to money through satellites. After that I will take another shot at NL25, playing less tables and not tilting like a monkey this time! My goals will basically be the same as last month. 250k hands, NL25 reg and Platinum Star.
Hands Played Today - 1063
Hands Played June - 200078
Comments:
I am done for the month. I have zero confidence in my ability to win a hand on Pokerstars right now. And I am beginning to start playing badly. I haven't had a downswing this intense in quite awhile. It wouldn't be that big a deal if I hadn't just moved up. I will drop back down to NL5 starting tomorrow. I only accomplished one of my three goals this month which was moving up to NL25. It went as badly as possible. I am not sure why I continue with this game sometimes.
+A few hundred in stellars/fpp value. Whatever. FML.
Hands Played June - 200078
Comments:
I am done for the month. I have zero confidence in my ability to win a hand on Pokerstars right now. And I am beginning to start playing badly. I haven't had a downswing this intense in quite awhile. It wouldn't be that big a deal if I hadn't just moved up. I will drop back down to NL5 starting tomorrow. I only accomplished one of my three goals this month which was moving up to NL25. It went as badly as possible. I am not sure why I continue with this game sometimes.
+A few hundred in stellars/fpp value. Whatever. FML.
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